EndTale
by Stevethebarbarian
Summary: When a Genocidal Chara travels to a peaceful True Pacifist timeline, those present have to find it in themselves to win and keep their happy ending. Meanwhile, Frisk wants nothing more than to SAVE the ones who don't have a happy ending of their own. An OC might eventually be involved in this. Inspired by the Swaptale webcomic. AU 001.
1. Chapter 1: Because They Got Bored

Toriel went down crying.

Undyne went down hissing and spitting.

Alphys went down screaming.

And Sans went down smiling.

But he still went down. And Frisk was alone. Except for the other one. Except for the Fallen Child. Except for Chara.

"When will it end, Chara? When are we going to be satisfied? When will we stop resetting and just leave them in peace? When, Chara? Are you looking for some milestone? Ten thousand genocides? A million? A billion? Will we stop when we can't count them any more? We have to stop eventually. We have to quit, Chara."

"'We' have to quit, Frisk? When did you become a part of this? You gave up that right when you gave me your SOUL. You gave up that right when _you_ chose to commit Genocide. I wasn't so much as a part of it at first. Neither was Asriel, or Flowey, or whatever you want to call him. It was your choice, Frisk. And now you have to live with the consequences."

The usually indifferent Frisk lowered their head to the ground, dejectedly frowning. They hated what the Dreemur child told her, but they still knew it to be true. They had given up their SOUL. They had chosen to commit Genocide. It wasn't what they got. It was what they asked for.

"Fine. I'll RESET."

"NO! Wait. You have a point. This is getting… boring. Boring as hell, to tell the truth. In fact, I think we need to try something new."

"And what is that? They're all dead. Are we going to make ourselves rulers of this land? Take Asgore's throne? Maybe Nabstablook can be our servant! I bet the Mad Dummy would be delighted to work for us! We would be wise and benevolent rulers, and everyone would like us. Right, Chara? Isn't that reasonable?"

"That isn't what I meant. No one knows better than you that there are dozens of timelines. Maybe hundreds, or thousands, or millions? Who knows, maybe there are an infinite number, floating around space and time. If we just keep resetting, what we do is never going to matter. But if we somehow move to another timeline, then this one remains dead. And maybe we can bring some hope, joy, and LOVE to that timeline as well. Doesn't that sound _fun?_ Won't we have a great time?"

"…"

Chara, deep within the depths of Frisk's subconscious, smiled widely. Frisk was theirs, and they knew it. As much as the human hated leaving their world dead and barren, they would have to follow through. Without their SOUL, Frisk had no authority over their actions. They knew it and they hated it. And Chara loved it.

"Chara, you do realize… if we go to another timeline, and that's assuming we can even find a way… and if there is another Frisk there… we won't be able to SAVE or LOAD. We won't be able to RESET. One death and we're done. And on our _best_ day, we've never been able to kill Sans without dying once. Going to another timeline would be suicide."

"Ha, ha, ha. Coward. You know that a Sans who wasn't prepared wouldn't stand a chance against us. Now. Let's find Asriel."

They called out to Flowey. But no one came. It would certainly be difficult to find him. But they would. Frisk looked forward to the possibility that they might finally die. Perhaps they could finally found peace. They knew that finding Flowey was the only way that could happen. They were filled with DETERMINATION.

"Sans, you don't understand. Flowey isn't a monster. He's a prison. Asriel is _inside_ him, Sans. We have to save him."

"are you _sure,_ kid? are you positive? because as much as i trust you, you have to understand that that sounds kind of crazy."

"I know, Sans. I understand that it's crazy. But it's true. You know the stories. Chara died and Asriel absorbed their soul. He went to the surface and tried to return their body to the humans. The humans mortally wounded him but he never fought back, no matter what. He survived, but once he returned home, his DETERMINATION failed and he died. But nobody knew what would happen when a monster fused with a human SOUL. Not even Alphys or G-"

"kid, i didn't just here the stories. i was _there._ but nobody has any reason to believe that asriel is still alive. human SOUL or not, kid, you didn't see asriel's wounds. no one is living through that. not even a DETERMINATION-loaded human. certainly not a monster. if you tell tori or asgore… there's just no way, kid. listen. believe what you want, and if you want to try to free asriel, i'll have your back all the way. but you can't tell toriel and king asgore. ya can't give 'em false hopes, kid."

"Fine, Sans. You're the only one I need. Listen, you know better than either of us that Grillyby's is going to have a huge going-away feast before they move to a new location. It's happening tomorrow, so how about we just head over there and have a good time, and then we'll decide what to do."

"sounds great, kiddo. it's a date. but not like all those other dates. i wouldn't want to get in between you and pap. or undyne. or alphys. or nabstablook."

"Ok, hey, that last one wasn't even a date! So just, just, just… just don't, Sans. I was just trying to get close to everybody."

"i getcha' kid. sorry about givin' ya so much trouble. that whole time just kinda tickled my **funny bone,** eh?"

"That one was lame even for you Sans. See you tomorrow."

The two turned in opposite directions, Sans strolling casually of with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, like always, as Frisk cheerfully jogged off in an inordinately good mood. Little did they know that their happy mood wouldn't last for long. For a dimension away, another Asriel had given another Frisk a tip, and now, hurtling through space-time, trying to reach a still living timeline. Chara and the second Frisk were both in good moods as well, although for completely different reasons.

And in the distance, man watched from afar, indifferent to the results of the confrontation that was soon to be, but still hopeful that the upcoming battle could improve his interests. He was slightly worried about what would happen if two Frisks found themselves in one place, but had no fear. But he had progressed beyond fear, even _if_ the humans posed a threat to one on a plane such as his. Which, he noted, they didn't.

"What do you think, Frisk? Does this place look alive enough for us? Does this look like a good place to destroy? Honestly, does it? Would you like to commit Genocide one more time? Let's do it together, shall we?"

Frisk looked around. What they saw astounded them. Even in the Ruins, they had never seen such happiness. Such unbelievable unity. Every monster seemed to love every other monster, and joy seemed to abound. Frisk didn't know what could cause them to be like this, and wanted to know, wanted to see what made them so happy. And yet they knew that in a few moments, they would be destroying them all.

Frisk drew their knife and stepped forward.

From a distance, Papyrus watched in confusion.

"FRISK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT KNIFE? FRISK? FRISK, WHAT'S GOING ON? "

Frisk didn't stop. Whimsun and Froggit, confused and uncomprehending, watched their old friend walk slowly and inorexibly toward them, knife raised, emotionless and murderous intent evident in their eyes. Whimsun didn't know whether to run away or just wait. Maybe Frisk was just playing around with them? Froggit, meanwhile, had no idea what was going on, but was worried anyway.

Papyrus began walking toward the three rapidly. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what Frisk was doing so soon after freeing them all, but he had a feeling something was wrong. He picked up his pace.

"WHAT IS GOING ON, HUMAN? STOP! STOP! **STOP!"**

Frisk didn't stop, but did finally seem to notice the skeleton. Chara, deep in Frisk's mind, spoke up.

"Wonderful. Papyrus. Someone who _matters._ Kill him first. And make sure he understands that you _aren't_ going to 'get better,' and he has no reason to 'believe in you.' Make it slow, Frisk. I want to see the look on that worthless skeleton's face when he sees what we did to his brother. Give him a bad time, Frisk."

"Fine. Fine, and damn you. We've destroyed far too much already. But fine. FINE!"

Frisk stepped forward at Papyrus and raised their knife. The lanky skeleton stopped in his tracks.

"HUMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PUT THE KNIFE AWAY, HUMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? FRISK, PLEASE, STOP! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! OH MY GOD, FRISK, STOP!"

Frisk didn't stop. As Papyrus slowed and stopped just a few feet away from the murderous human, they raised the blade stained with the blood and dust of so many monsters, including, although Papyrus had no way of knowing this, his own.

"FRISK, PLEASE… HUMAN… WHAT'S WRONG? PLEASE, FRISK, WHATEVER IT IS, WE'LL GET THROUGH IT TOGETHER. NO. PLEASE, NO… SANS! UNDYNE! LADY ASGORE! REAL ASGORE! HELP ME! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH FRISK! THEY SEEM _VERY_ UPSET!"

But nobody came.

Frisk swung, knowing that Papyrus would dodge, and he did, if only by a tiny fraction of an inch. He was out of practice. The blade made a small scratch down the length of the skeleton's battle body. It was this scratch that served to snap him out of his denial and force him to realize that Frisk was really trying to kill him. As the human swung another knife blow at Papyrus, he reluctantly lifted his palm a few inches into the air, summoning a single bone out of the ground, and halfheartedly shot it at Frisk, who effortlessly sliced it out of the air.

"HUMAN, PLEASE, DON'T MAKE ME FIGHT YOU!"

Frisk swung again. Papyrus dodged.

"FRISK, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO HURT YOU!"

The murderous human took another step forward and raised their knife.

"DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!"

Frisk swung one more time.

"FINE. I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU, HUMAN. I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, BUT YOU NEED HELP. I'LL HELP YOU FRISK. AND IF THAT MEANS BRINGING YOU DOWN… SO BE IT. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL PREVAIL! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Although Papyrus didn't have the faintest thought of actually hurting Frisk, he did know that he had no choice but to fight. Clenching his fist, he lifted about a dozen bones from the ground and rocketed them at Frisk, who either smashed them with their fist, sliced them with their knife, or simply dodged them. Papyrus brought up another volley of bones and fired them as well, but Frisk avoided them with relative ease. The skeleton was beginning to get worried. Frisk wasn't a fighter, so how were they so easily avoiding his attacks?

He gritted his teeth, and unleashed another several bones, these ones significantly larger than the ones that preceded them, before sticking several directly into the ground and sending them flying through the earth at Frisk, who simply jumped over them and then pulled out a second knife, hurling it at Papyrus. The skeleton struggled to dodge, but the weapon shot directly through his battle body, pinning him to a tree directly behind his earlier position.

Frisk began walking slowly and purposefully toward Papyrus. The skeleton was beginning to get really, really scared. He clenched his fist once again, and began to strain, before thrusting his palm into the air and unleashing all of his willpower. Behind him, a tremendous bone, the size of a large building, rose from the dirt and rocks beneath him.

"IF MY CASUAL ATTACKS CAN'T STOP YOU, FRISK, I'LL SHOW YOU MY PERFECTLY NORMAL ATTACK! I KNOW YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE, BUT THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO ON A **NORMAL DAY.** SEE HOW WORTHY I AM OF JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD? ACTUALLY, THAT ISN'T THE POINT. THE POINT IS, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HIT YOU WITH THIS ATTACK, AND YOU WILL BE STUNNED! SUFFICIENTLY STUNNED, IN FACT, TO BE EASILY TAKEN TO ALPHYS AND CURED OF WHATEVER IS CAUSING YOU TO BE SO UPSET! NYEH HEH HEH! PERFECTLY NORMAL ATTACK, _**GO!"**_

Papyrus thrust his arm forward, sending the massive piece of bone at Frisk, who stood there, indifferent. Papyrus saw the bone impact, and heard a cracking sound. Suddenly, he was gripped by terror, a tightening of the throat, and horror at the thoughts that came to mind. What if he had overdone it? What if he had… killed them? But it was only a spit-second later that he got his answer. The cracking wasn't that of Frisk's bones. It was that of the massive femur that he had sent at the human. Long cracks split down the length of the "normal attack," as it's structural integrity was reduced to zero. Suddenly, the massive weapon shattered into billions of splinters of bone, and everything in the area was slightly injured by the burst.

All except for one. Frisk stood there unmoved, other than their fist being extended in front of them. Casually, the human had punched the massive bone to pieces.

"OH MY GOD. DID THEY JUST… **AAAAAAH! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"**

As Papyrus continued screaming for a savior, trying to free himself from the tree he was stuck to, Frisk walked slowly toward him, raising their knife as they moved.

As Frisk finally reached their target, they lifted their blade. Seeing the terrified, pleading look on the face of the skeleton who had tried thousands of times to be their friend, Frisk hesitated, for just a moment ignoring Chara's enraged screaming in their head. Frisk knew that it would soon be over. They were filled with DETERMINATION. As Frisk prepared to thrust downward and finish Papyrus, they were suddenly interrupted by a flying projectile from some distance away. Papyrus fainted in relief. Undyne was here.

"Ok, you little punk, what's the issue, and GET THAT KNIFE AWAY FROM PAPYRUS!"

The heroine leapt from her current position almost 150 yards away from Frisk and landed directly in front of the human.

"You had better have a hell of a good explanation, punk! Listen, I'm grateful for you befriending me, I'm grateful for you saving us from Flowey, and I'm grateful for you destroying the Barrier. But if two of my friends try to kill each other, I'm going after the aggressor, and you sure as hell look like an aggressor. So _what's the problem,_ Frisk?"

Frisk had no answer. They just thrust upward at the undying hero with an attempt at a killing blow. Undyne was almost relieved. Truth be told, she had always been looking for a reason to hate the human, and although it seemed like Frisk had been the Underground's savior, now she finally had proof that they were just like all the rest of the humans. Worthless killers. The fight was on.

A slightly perplexed figure watched from afar, as he heard Undyne's battle theme play over the more natural sounds of the battle between her and Frisk, or, as the figure knew them, Chara.


	2. Chapter 2: And It Begins

"so, wacha think of the food, kid?"

"Ha. It's great, Sans, just like always. What do you think of the… condiments?"

"well, they're not the best. the relish is a bit old, and the mustard isn't spicy enough, but the ketchup is top-notch. just like always."

"Great. I'm glad to see everybody having such a good time. Hard to believe that we're never going to be in this place again, right?"

"yeah, kid, it's real strange. y'know, i used to come down here every day. i'd chat will grillby, i'd drink ketchup, i'd tell bad jokes. this place sure has a lot of memories, kid. welp. i guess it's about time for us to go, ri- did you hear that?"

Sans the Skeleton suddenly stepped backwards in worry.

"Hear what, Sans?"

"that sounded like pap, kid, and it sounded like he's in trouble. i gotta go right now, kay? it's important. like, really important, kid. sounds like undyne is there too. i gotta go _right now."_

"God, Sans, GO! I'll catch up with you as soon as possible."

Sans suddenly twitched a bit before disappearing entirely, leaving an afterimage behind thanks to his sheer speed. Frisk ran after him, stopping for a moment to call Asgore, who was flipping burgers at a large grill.

"Asgore! Come here! Papyrus is in trouble!"

"Uh-ok! Right! I'm on my way! Alphys, Tori, listen-"

"Don't "Tori" me, Dreemur! We're still only friends."

"Fine, but Sans' brother is in trouble, and it would be unwise to-"

"P-papyrus is in trouble? I-I'm coming! I'm on my w-way!"

And like that, Asgore, Toriel, Frisk, and Alphys were all charging toward their destiny. Meanwhile, Undyne was finding that she was only barely a match for the incredibly powerful Frisk. You know, the one from the other timeline. The one that you would know about if you had read the first chapter. Anyway, Frisk was giving Undyne an extremely bad time. With one slash after another, he beat down her defenses. With every dodged spear, Frisk came one single step closer to plunging their knife into the undying heroine.

"W-why? Why are you so damn strong? It doesn't make sense!"

Frisk only laughed.

"AAAARGH! You little punk! Don't laugh at me!"

Suddenly, without warning, just as Undyne was preparing to launch another blow, bones exploded from the ground beneath Frisk, forcing them to leap into the air and avoid the shots.

Undyne had the perfect opening, the _ultimate_ opening. She raised her spear and brought it down at Frisk, who didn't do so much as flinch. She stopped. Frisk smiled. No one knew better than them that as much as Undyne hated to admit it, she could never kill them.

Sans, however, wasn't of the same opinion.

"undyne, i'm thinkin' that you should probably finish them before this gets out of hand."

"But Sans… they… they… how could I…"

"kill frisk?"

"Yes! How could I kill Frisk? HOW, SANS, HOW?"

"i was talking with frisk two minutes ago at grillby's. undyne, that's not frisk."

Sans snapped his fingers, causing dozens of bones to rise from the ground and float in the air behind him.

"and if they're giving papyrus a bad time…"

Frisk gave a contorted smile. Truth be told, Frisk was delighted. If they could finally fight Sans, they would almost definitely lose. If they lost, they almost definitely wouldn't be able to LOAD or RESET. And if they couldn't do either of those things, then perhaps they would finally lose. And maybe the multiverse would be safe from their evil. Perhaps Genocide would finally end.

Meanwhile, Chara, deep inside Frisk's mind, had different thoughts. In all their Genocide runs, they had never tried to take on Sans and Undyne at once, and Papyrus being there was another added problem. But they knew that if they destroyed this world, they could move on to the next. They were filled with DETERMINATION.

It was then that Frisk lost control.

"Honestly, Frisk, how long did you think that you could just stall, just _waiting_ for Sans to hit you? I have your SOUL, Frisk. You're mine."

Frisk felt their muscles involuntarily twisting, forcing them into a dodge to avoid the bones that had been launched their way. They muttered a retort at Chara.

"Damn you. You aren't a human. You aren't a monster. You're a demon. A soulless freak!"

"Really, Frisk? I'm soulless? Look who's talking."

Frisk knew the words to be true. Chara _did_ have a SOUL. It just wasn't theirs. It was Frisk's.

"what're you talking about, kid. i think i've got just a little more SOUL than you do."

Frisk tried to reply.

"I-I-i wasn'- I wasn't talking-"

And then they stopped. Chara was smart enough to stop them from garnering sympathy from Sans.

"not in the mood for chitchat, eh? well, neither am i. i don't make a habit of having conversations with people who have 20 LVL. dunno how you got all of that, since you'd have to pretty much kill everyone in the world to get there, but you've got it. EXP doesn't lie, kid."

"Hah! No, it doesn't, Sans. Funny, a lot of that EXP came from _you."_

"aha. that explains a lot. so you committed genocide in your timeline, then came to this one using the SWAP, and then you came here because you figured that it wouldn't matter if you kept on resetting. and now you want to kill me, the "great sans", because i'm the only one who could even think about stopping you."

"How did you…"

"eh. lucky guess. but you've got a few problems. first off, i'm not the only one who can stop you. second, let's just say that i have something to fight for. i can almost guarantee that that wasn't a luxury that i was allowed when you committed Genocide in your timeline, was it?"

One thing was sure. It was on.


	3. Chapter 3: Sans Vs Chara

Frisk, under Chara's influence, made the first move, just like always. Taking a slash at Sans, the fallen child tried to bring down the skeleton before he had a chance to use any of his brutally powerful attacks. As powerful as Sans was, Chara knew full well that he couldn't take a hit to save his life (literally.)

But it wasn't to be. Sans easily sidestepped the attack, and the one that followed, and the one that followed that.

"listen kid, you know full well how strong i am, and i think i'm stronger than you."

Frisk swung again, but Sans took a casual step backward and avoided the blow easily.

"by a lot, in fact. why don't you just give up and leave everyone alone?"

Frisk continued their attack, and Sans just frowned. Eventually, he got annoyed.

"kid, i hope you realize what you're getting into. i can't afford not to care anymore. if you even come close to looking like a threat, i'm gonna have to give you a bad time."

Frisk swung again. This time, when Sans sidestepped, he tapped the human gently on the shoulder. Under normal circumstances, this would be a low-level taunt, but against a LVL 20 murderer like Genocide Frisk, it unleashed the full force of Karmic Retribution, sending waves of spiritual pain through the human's veins and their very SOUL.

But Chara wasn't giving up, not by a long shot. Taking another swing, Frisk actually managed to slice a tiny scratch down the hoodie that Sans was wearing.

"watch yourself, kid. i'm a big fan of this getup, and i wouldn't want anyone messing it up."

Frisk smiled with an evil grin as they threw their knife in Sans' direction, in an attempt to _at least_ graze him and mess up the hoodie. They failed, as Sans rather easily sidestepped and caught the knife in one hand. He held it up in the light and examined it carefully. The dust that coated it, the scratches in it's surface, the age of the blade and the fine design of the hilt. It's perfect balance, it's unbelievable sharpness. Perfect for cutting vines. Or monsters. Looking a bit closer, Sans recognized a bit of a familiar substance on the weapon.

"huh. ketchup. either that bottle was _really_ stuck, or… you… killed me and i bled ketchup? maybe i was eating so much that you cut my stomach open and it fell out?"

Frisk dashed at Sans to retrieve their knife. In the time it took them to reach his position, he had already moved about a hundred feet back and was grinning at them.

"kid, listen, i haven't even attacked yet. just quit, ok? just quit, and everything will be fine. you can go back to your timeline and RESET and do whatever it is that you want to do, and you'll get no opposition from me, as long as you _leave my friends alone."_

Chara laughed insanely inside the Genocide Frisk's mind. This Sans cared, _so much,_ about this world. He would do _anything_ to protect it. They had never managed to get so much as a drop of difference from Sans before, no matter what they did. Even when they killed Papyrus, Sans only attacked out of anger, not out of any desire to protect the world.

But now he cared. Now, they could make it _hurt._

"kid, i need your decision. honestly, you can make this a lot easier for both of us. no need making this harder than it has to be. there's no need for violence. there's no LOADs, remember? you die and you die. it's _over."_

Chara realized that they had no chance at retrieving the knife from Sans, so they instead forced Frisk to rush toward the tree to which a revived Papyrus was pinned, take that knife, and then use it against Sans, possibly after killing Papyrus, if they had time.

Rushing toward the knife, Genocide Frisk was feeling themselves getting into the flow of things. They began to care less and less about the monsters they were attacking, and to give Chara less and less resistance. They were preparing for Genocide again. Perhaps it wasn't _entirely_ Chara's fault that they had committed Genocide so many times.

They were mere feet away from the knife when Sans made his move, instantly appearing inches in front of Frisk and stopping them in their tracks.

"i need an answer, kid. just leave now and nobody gets hurt."

"I. Am. Not. Afraid. Of. You."

"then you're making a mistake."

Frisk swung a fist at Sans, who easily dodged.

"welp. it was worth a try."

Lifting a single finger in the air, Sans activated his telekinetic abilities and caused Frisk to float about ten feet in the air.

"you're gonna have a bad time, kid. yo, papyrus! the others are gonna show up in just a minute or so, you should probably go, say, three hundred yards away and wait for them, maybe? you too, undyne."

The two monsters concurred and followed Sans' instructions, Papyrus gratefully and Undyne hesitatingly.

"alright, kid, you're going down."

Sans flipped his hand so that it was palm-down, and then swung his hand downward, slamming Frisk into the ground, before lifting them and slamming them down again. He repeated the action a few times, before taking his other hand and lifting it, causing a row of bones to rise from the ground in an attempt at impaling the human.

Frisk desperately twisted their body, managing to avoid the deadly bones, and grabbed them to prevent Sans from lifting them into the air again. Sans decided to give up on a futile strategy and instead summoned a horde of bones to float into the air before launching them all at Frisk.

The human had no trouble slicing, smashing, or dodging all of the projectiles, and advanced toward Sans, flipping through the air to deliver a brutal slice, but Sans rather easily stepped out of the way, before gripping Frisk with telekinesis once again and pushing them back, smashing them through the veritable forest of bones behind them.

And they got up three seconds later, absolutely fine.

"welp. looks like that isn't working. i'm gonna need some backup."

Sans put a finger to his mouth and whistled shrilly, summoning a small army of his pets, the gasterblasters. They had originally been tamed for a purpose other than killing humans, but Sans felt that that was all that they had been used for lately. Or ever, truth be told.

"ok, bonenie, let's have some fun. you go circle behind the human, rawbone, tailbone, you circle to the sides, the rest of you, back me up. hey!"

Another of the gasterblasters got a bit to exuberant, and decided to try to _bite_ Frisk, forcing Sans to grab her by the collarbone and hold her back.

"it's not quite time yet, girl. wait for my signal, kay?"

Sans raised his hand, holding Frisk in place, and prepared to tell the gasterblasters to fire. However, at the last second, he decided to go a different route.

"one more thing. grumbine, shufflebean, both of you go overhead, too high for the human to easily see. if they escape this, fire."

The gasterblasters readily nodded and flew straight upward at speeds rivaling or possibly even exceeding Sans' own.

"i love you guys. now. let's give this kid a bad time, ok? three…"

Sans lifted another hand, summoning up hundreds of bones.

"two…"

Flicking a finger over his eye, the skeleton masked the ignition of his eye for a split second, just for kicks. When the finger was removed, the blue flame around his pupil became evident. He was serious.

"one and a half…"

Sans chuckled, and put all of his effort into this attack, as the gasterblasters' eyes began to ignite as well, their mouths opening and their throats glowing blue.

" **O N E."**

Sans thrust his hand forward, launching all of his bones as the gasterblasters fired at Frisk from all directions. To Frisk, time seemed to slow down, as beams and bones. came at them from all directions. They prepared the best they could.

And they all hit.


	4. Chapter 4: Turning Point

When Chara saw the gasterblasters surrounding Frisk's body, they kind of panicked. All too many times, they had seen that exact same sight. It didn't help that they felt the constant presence of Sans' telekinesis on their SOUL, holding them in place.

But there was a difference between then and now. Then, they could just LOAD. Now, if they died, it was all over. They couldn't SAVE, LOAD, or RESET. And with that knowledge, came fear. For all their life, Chara had done nothing but hurt the ones they loved, and the ones they hated, and the ones they were indifferent to. And all of it was to achieve power. Even that came from a desire to have fun.

But now, the fun was over. It had always been a game before. Now, it was real. And Chara had nothing to do. There was absolutely nothing they could do to survive. At least three hundred times, Sans had killed them with that exact same move, and they had dodged it exactly zero times.

Then, Chara began to calm down. They couldn't dodge, obviously, but they could survived. They had never really cared before. It was all just a game. But now, it was real, and Chara couldn't afford not to care anymore.

They were filled with DETERMINATION.

When the gasterblasters' beams hit, Sans smiled. The shot had rocked the entire Underground, and the dust from the impact still covered hundreds of yards surrounding the area.

Sans had won, finally. Or so he believed.

It was not to be so easy.

As Sans calmed down, his pupils reappearing, and the flame in his eye dying out, he hugged each of the gasterblasters before sending them off to roam wherever the heck it was that they went when they weren't around.

He was sweating. He hadn't realized just how much one attack could take out of him. Panting hard, Sans snapped his finger and teleported over to Undyne and Papyrus.

"hey, bro, hey undyne. i sure didn't expect them to be so tough. what do you think, undyne?"

"I can't even describe it. Not only were they stronger, faster, and more durable than m- Asgore, they seemed like they knew all of my moves. It was like they were prepared for everything I did. And… If you hadn't showed up when you did… I'd be dead, Sans. Thanks."

"no problem. it's the least i could do. how are you feelin', paps?"

"I AM FEELING ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! I HAVE EXPRESSED MY SINCEREST GRATITUDE TO UNDYNE, AND NOW I MUST GIVE IT TO YOU, BROTHER. YOU STRONGLY ASSISTED ME RIGHT THERE. OF COURSE, _I_ THE GREAT PAPYRUS, COULD HAVE EASIL-"

"Papyrus, maybe you should shut up for a second, kay?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, UNDYNE?"

"Turn around, Sans."

But Sans didn't need to turn around. His hand instantly ignited with blue flame as he thrust his palm forward to telekinetically throw Undyne and Papyrus out of the way. An instant later, he practically tripped out of the way of a sneak attack from the Fallen Child, alive and well behind him.

Turning around, Sans noticed some serious scratches and quite a bit of blood on the human's face and body, but no dangerous injury. Despite the rivulets of scarlet liquid that ran down the length of their face from their hair to their neck, they hardly seemed to notice pain.

In fact, they hardly seemed to be noticing anything.

Papyrus had seen Sans upset only a couple of times. When he went over the edge, his pupils disappeared, and Papyrus swore they were the deadest, emptiest eyes that had ever, would ever, or could ever exist.

Now, staring directly into Frisk's eyes, he knew he had been wrong.

"pap, i don't mean to alarm you, but i'm not sure i can deal with this kid. they're a hell of a lot stronger than anyone i've ever fought, and if they can no-sell thirty gasterblasters like nothing, then we're in trouble. and i'm tired too. i can't hold them off forever. take undyne, and evacuate, _now."_

" _He's_ going to take _me,_ and evacuate? No way! Do you have any idea who you're talking about? I'm not running away!"

"i'm not gonna force you to do something you don't want to. but if you stay, undyne, you're gonna die."

Blunt, but true. Sans obviously wasn't in a good mood.

Undyne growled in sheer frustration. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, if Sans couldn't beat this kid, she couldn't either. None of them could.

The human swung again, and Sans dodged, but only narrowly. He was getting tired. Lifting his palm, Sans made a bed of bones explode out of the ground beneath the Genocide Frisk, but the human simply leapt into the air to avoid them and then slammed their fists downward into the ground to shatter them.

Dashing toward Sans, they raised their knife to stab him, and he was barely able to push them away with telekinesis before they landed the hit. He snapped his fingers, summoning a few gasterblasters to fire at the human, but they were able to easily evade the shots. Their speed, strength, and durability were going up by the second, and Sans didn't like it.

Suddenly, the human disappeared. Sans looked around, and cursed under his breath. He had blinked.

The skeleton honestly didn't have a clue where the next hit would come from, but simply waited what seemed to him like a sufficient amount of time, and then sidestepped, inadvertently dodging a blow from behind that would have sliced him vertically in two.

Frisk charged Sans, who struggled to dodge attacks that were coming in at incredible speeds. He was still vastly faster than the human, but he was tired and unnerved, and Frisk was also attacking with a ferocity and randomness that was catching him off guard. Suddenly, Frisk took a step forward, but, instead of attacking directly, swung around in a circle and slashed from the side, the opposite side that Sans expected. The skeleton realized that he wouldn't be able to dodge the attack, and did his best to prepare for it.

He closed his eyes, braced himself and… felt absolutely nothing. Looking forward, he saw the Genocide Frisk's knife blocked in place by the knife of a very different Fallen Child.

The cavalry had arrived.


	5. Chapter 5: Not the Same

"never thought i'd be so glad to see ya, kid."

The Pacifist Frisk stood in between their Genocidal counterpart and their best friend, Sans the skeleton. Their knife, so long unused, was held in their outstretched hand, blocking that of the evil human that had come so close to murdering Sans.

They were filled with DETERMINATION.

"Step away from Sans."

"Fine. He's useless now, anyway."

"kid, watch yourself. this one's bad to the bone."

"Nice to see you're not too worried, Sans."

"i like to keep up appearances. but kid, honestly. just don't let your guard down for a second."

Genocide Frisk wasn't taking any more of this, and swung their knife. Pacifist Frisk parried, but almost failed to block the next blow, which came swinging from the side. With each shot, it became more and more clear how things were going down. Genocide Frisk wasn't nearly as strong or durable as their Pacifist counterpart, but they had much more skill and murderous intent.

Undyne smiled. As well as the Genocide Frisk was doing, she knew who would come out on top. She had complete trust in Frisk. She knew that, no matter what, he wouldn't fail them.

"Go get 'em, Frisk! You've got this!"

Papyrus cheered in turn.

"YES, HUMAN, THEY DON'T STAND A CHANCE! YOU CAN DEFEAT THEM IN AN INSTANT!"

Sans' cheering was a bit more muted, but to Frisk, it meant so much more than hollow words from Undyne and the over-exuberant Papyrus.

"i'm rootin' for ya, kid."

Meanwhile, Alphys and Asgore had arrived on-scene.

"W-wow! They're really pounding Frisk, aren't they? Or is-is that Frisk who is winning? What's going on?"

"the one with blood in their hair is the bad one. just remember that."

Asgore pulled out his trident.

"Why aren't we helping them?"

"'cause there's nothing we can do. they're out of our league."

Asgore remained silent.

"where's toriel?"

Alphys replied, trying to keep her eyes on the fight and pay attention to Sans at the same time. As much as she hated the idea that Frisk was in danger, she couldn't help but be enthralled by the battle, so much like those in the anime that she watched.

"Well, um, I think she went to get Mettaton."

Sans quietly nodded. It seemed reasonable that a _robot_ with a cell phone _built in_ would be easy to contact, but the TV-star kept it turned off most of the time to avoid constantly getting calls from crazed fans. Or, at least that's what he said. Sans thought that he might actually like the silence. He acted like he adored the spotlight, but, to tell the truth, it was possible that he did it entirely for the enjoyment of the people watching.

Unfortunately, at the moment, this meant that one of the most powerful warriors on the planet was completely unavailable to help save Frisk's life.

Pacifist Frisk slashed again, trying their best to land a hit on the other human, but the move was easily dodged, and it's follow-up was quickly countered by the Genocidal Frisk.

"Why don't you just give up and leave. Just let your 'friends' die and let me have the timeline?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Why would I do that? What could your reasoning actually _be?_ "

"My reasoning? None of this _matters!_ It's all just one of infinite timelines! None. Of. It. Matters! Why do you care about them? Why do you want to protect the _monsters_ that helped _destroy your people?!"_

"That isn't just dust on your knife. That's blood too. You don't fight for your people. You don't even fight for you. You fight to destroy. To kill. To erase. To RESET and do it all again!"

"And what's wrong with that? What's wrong with having a little bit of fun?"

"Who _are_ you? Who ARE you?!"

"I'm you, Frisk. I'm you."

"No you're not. You are _nothing_ like me! You aren't me! You are a heartless, soulless, murderer! You don't deserve to _exist_ in a timeline like this! You… you… you FREAK!"

"What happened to MERCY, Frisk? What happened to forgive and forget? You spared Flowey. You spared Undyne. You spared Asgore. And now you're doing your best to kill me. You don't want to show MERCY. You just want to FIGHT."

"No. I'm not killing anything. You are _me._ By ridding this world of my worst traits personified, I am doing a favor to all living things. I can't kill myself."

"Really? That seems like a hell of a selfish thing to say. And besides, you wouldn't be killing yourself. I'm not Frisk anymore. I. Am. CHARA!"

Swinging their knife, Chara sent an insane strike at Frisk, who easily blocked it. However, the dozens of slashes that followed were less easily avoided, and more than once, Frisk found themselves nicked and cut. They just kept blocking, however, and swinging. But they began to wonder. They felt that there was nothing wrong with killing an evil version of themselves. It was essentially just like if a person took psychiatric treatment to rid themselves of an evil split-personality.

But now they began to rethink it. Frisk didn't know who this Chara was, but they felt that they couldn't in good conscience, kill them without finding out first. And why would they kill them anyway? Chara had brought up a good point. Since they fell into the Underground, Frisk had always shown MERCY. So why the hell were they trying to kill someone now? Was it rage? Fear? Confusion? They couldn't say.

"Wow, you, uh, really like swinging that thing around, don't you?"

"Who are you to judge, _murderer?"_

"I'm not the only killer here. I only got access to Frisk's SOUL because _they_ killed everyone in the RUINS by their own volition. If they hadn't done that, then I would never have been able to take control."

"…"

"That's right. It wasn't me that did that, Frisk. _You did."_

"I don't know who you are, Chara. But I know who _I_ am. And I would _never_ kill the people standing behind me, or anyone else. We're more than just allies. We're more than just friends. We're _family._ And I would never, _never_ hurt them. And that's why I know, Chara. That's why I know that I am nothing, _nothing_ like you. Leave. Now. And you can go freely."

Frisk was sparing Chara.

Chara swung their knife.

Frisk sidestepped.

"It was worth a try."

"hey, kid!"

Frisk paused for a second.

"Yeah, Sans?"

"good job, kid. i'm proud of you."

Frisk beamed. They were filled with DETERMINATION.

The next swing didn't miss. Frisk brought down their knife so hard on Chara's that the blade was thrown straight out of the Genocidal maniac's hands.

Frisk raised their blade.

"I am giving you one more chance. _Leave._ "

Chara just smiled.

"If you insist."

And Chara was gone. No one could say quite where. They were just gone.

But they would be back. They _would_ be back. But for now, they were gone. And it would take more than the _threat_ of a return to keep the "good guys" worried. For the moment, they were safe. The surface was beckoning. They were on their way. 


	6. Chapter 6: True Pacifist

"welp… kid… it's… i really don't know what to say. god. it's… it's really beautiful, kid."

Like usual, Sans' words didn't fully reveal his true emotions. "Really beautiful" was an understatement. Sans, Papyrus, Frisk, Alphys, and Undyne stood in an open, green field full of lush grass and flowers. Above them, the sun burned, a fact that Papyrus had never really gotten used to.

Around them for miles stretched plains, forests, hills, and mountains. Truth be known, the monsters weren't big fans of mountains. They'd lived in one for a helluva long time. Each one had left their belongings back at the former Barrier, pending a way to get them here. Undyne and Frisk had offered to simply carry all of the goods, given their impressive strength would make the process of moving quite easy. Undyne had hammered in the point by suplexing a huge bag of Alphys' belongings, just because she could.

The others were exploring other options.

But for now, the process of getting here didn't really matter. They just cared that they were there.

"I-I… I d-don't know what to say. It's… it's p-perfect."

"HA! I ALLWAYS BELIEVED IN YOU, FRISK! I KNEW YOU COULD FIND THE PERFECT PLACE, AND YOU DID!"

For the last few days, the sudden appearance of the Genocide Frisk had gotten the monsters quite worried. But, for now, they had forgotten completely about them. Undyne voiced the general thoughts of those present.

"I never knew what we were missing. I never thought… that it could be like this. I never imagined that something this beautiful could exist."

Frisk laughed.

"We're just getting started. You walk a while to the east, you've got forests, and north, you can reach the ocean. You really need to see the ocean. Off to the west, there's Capital City. Nobody has lived there for a long time, but some people were already starting to move back when I fell into Mount Ebbot."

"huh. what happened?"

"Apparently, back when the war was going on, the monsters made a virus that would only infect humans. It was the ultimate war-winning weapon, and it was deployed all over the front. It killed thousands. But the armies that were infected were always wiped out and couldn't spread it, so they started putting it in villages. Those were wiped out too. Finally, a monster spy tried to sneak into the Capital with a vial of the plague. We caught him, and killed him, and then put the vial in an old monastery. Recently, about… twelve years ago, somebody accidentally shattered it. Nine tenths of all humans died, and the Capital was evacuated. The plague is probably long-gone by now, I fell down two years ago, and there were only a few cases a year up till then. That's why I went into the mountains in the first place. The air up there is fresh, and the virus spreads through unclean air."

Alphys grew red in the face, and shed a single tear.

"I'm so sorry. I-I never… I can't believe what we did to you."

Frisk seemed shocked.

"We locked you in the Underground for over three hundred years!"

"And we wiped out half of y-your race… more… what did you say? Nine tenths? We wiped out nine tenths of your race!"

"It was war, Alphys."

"B-but… listen. You beat us because you were the b-better fighters, s-stronger warriors. Undyne might be stronger than the strongest normal human, but the average human is just as strong as any r-royal guardsman. We had to resort to… immoral tactics to win. I-I… I just wanted to apologize for what our people did to yours."

Frisk smiled widely and hugged Alphys.

"And I want to apologize for what my people did to yours. But between me and Sans, no one would dare attack us. We're safe, even if the humans decide not to trust us."

"yeah, alphie, don't worry 'bout a thing. we've got it covered."

"INDEED. NO ONE COULD GET BY SANS! OR THE HUMAN! THEY ARE BOTH SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THE AVERAGE PERSON! RIGHT?"

"that's right, bro. significantly stronger."

Sans winked at Frisk. "Significantly" was the understatement of the century. Frisk spoke up.

"Hey, guys, you look around for a while. Me and Sans have something we've got to do."

The human turned around and walked back down the path that would lead to Mt. Ebbot. Sans hesitated. Frisk looked back, staring Sans pleadingly in the eye. _You promised._

Sans nodded, and called out one more time before rejoining his conversation with the other monsters.

"don't worry, kid! i'll catch up with you in a minute!"

Frisk smiled, waved, and walked off.

Meanwhile, at what was once the Royal Palace of King Asgore, Toriel sat silently in her old chair. After all this… they were finally leaving the Underground. It was what she had always wanted. And yet…

She wasn't quite sure she could do it. They had lived down there _so long._ She wanted to open a schoolhouse, but for who? She was sure that Frisk would be delighted to attend, and Papyrus could possibly be convinced to do so if he felt it would help him get into the Royal Guard, or make him a better chef, even, but… who else? Truth be told, she had no hope that any human children could be convinced to be taught by a monster. And on account of that, she really couldn't think of a reason to leave.

She loved the light. But was it really for her? All her life, she had lived here. And, as wonderful as the surface was, she wasn't positive she was able to leave it. Reminiscing about her days in the ruins, sharing bad jokes with Sans, and thinking even further back to her days as queen of the underground, in a loving marriage with Asgore, Asriel running around the room like a little hurricane. So loving. So different from Frisk, and yet so similar. A tear ran down her cheek.

She was filled with DETERMINATION.


	7. Chapter 7: Hopes

"Get away from me. Both of you."

"Flowey, please, we're trying to _help_ you!"

"yeah, buddy. if what the kid says is true, it's not your fault that you're…"

"Evil? Yeah, no, it _is_ my fault. You aren't trying to help me! You're trying to help ASRIEL. I am _not_ Asriel Dreemur! I am Flowey the Flower. You want to SAVE Asriel, right? Well you're _not._ You're _killing_ me. I'm gonna tell you one more time- get. Out."

"don't make it like that, flowery trashbags. you want to make threats, you're gonna have a bad-"

"No, Sans. This isn't going to turn into a fight. We'll find another way to SAVE Asriel. Flowey obviously isn't going to cooperate."

"See? The kid has the right idea. Get the hell out."

"fine. whatever. but remember, flowey. if this kid hadn't been here…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd have a bad time, I'd be boned, you'd have a bone to pick, whatever. I guess I'll see you later. But _you_ remember, Sans. I'm not the weakling you think I am. You went down as easy as anyone else at Asgore's palace."

" _riiiiight._ ok, whatever. let's go, kid."

"Ok, Sans, sure. Flowey, no mater what you say, I'm still going to try to SAVE you."

"Go. Ahead. And. Try."

"don't act like that, little buddy. you know the kid is serious, and you know they want the best for you. and you also know that you fighting them would be like an ant fighting the sun."

"I know that. And I _hate it!_ But there's nothing I can do about that. For now."

"right. keep on dreamin' buddy. it worked for the kid."

Flowey just growled and popped into the ground.

Sans followed Frisk, who had walked off a few seconds earlier.

"you ok, kid?"

"Yeah. I just wish you wouldn't have been so aggressive with Flowey. He may be our enemy, but we're trying to change that. Please, Sans, just try to ignore the fact that he's a cardinal asshole and just give him a chance."

"last i checked, i wasn't the one issuing death threats."

"You _did_ tell him he was going to have a bad time. Coming from you, that's a hell of a death threat."

"true enough."

The two of them walked wordlessly for a while, lost in thought before they were suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.

"SAAAAANS! ARE YOU THERE, SANS! SAAAANS! COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!"

"hey, pap! we're over here, bro!"

"AH, SANS, FRISK, WODERFUL! I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER FIND YOU!"

"yellin' like that, we could have heard you on the surface. what's up?"

"WELL, TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT, I THINK I FOUND THE… _OTHER HUMAN."_

"Let's go. Now."

"of course, where is it, Pap."

"BACK IN SNOWDIN, DEEP IN THE FORESTS. NEAR THAT CAVE WE USED TO HANG OUT AT."

"great. i know a shortcut."

"Of course you do."

In less than thirty seconds, the trio had found themselves exiting a long line of trees to enter a small sheltered valley, at the center of which was a cave. It was surprisingly warm in the area, given Snowdin's perpetual cold weather, but that was aside from the point.

"by the way, bro, how did you find out about this place?"

"THEY… TOLD ME."

"What!?"

Sans' eyes had suddenly went black as he desperately tried to dodge. But he failed. In an instant, Genocide Frisk leapt out of the tree line behind them, brandishing their knife, and before Sans could dodge, he was badly injured in the back.

"whoah. wish you'd told me that sooner, bro."

And with those as his last words, Sans faded to dust.

Frisk and Papyrus screamed out their horror simultaneously.

" _SAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!"_

"You guys really don't get it, do you? You can't win. I've killed all of you a thousand times. And right now, Frisk- I have the advantage."

"Y-you… I'll… I'll make you pay for what you did to Sans! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

Pacifist Frisk charged Genocide Frisk, knife drawn, and brought down a blow that would have split Genocide Frisk down the middle a thousand times over, had it landed. But it didn't land, because, in their rage, the Pacifist Frisk failed to hit the calm and rapidly dodging Genocide Frisk. And they fell right into their knife.

"Y-you… how did you…"

"You're strong, Frisk. You're DETERMINATION makes you a hell of a lot stronger than me. But you're naive. And you can't fight. I can. I have more fighting experience in one finger than you have in your whole weakling body. And remember, Frisk. No RESETs."

As the Pacifist Frisk stood there with Genocide Frisk's knife in their chest, tears streaming down their cheeks, and Sans' dust scattered across the entire area, Papyrus simply lay on his knees, too shocked to take action. In less than thirty seconds, Sans had died and Frisk had been mortally wounded.

And it was all, BECAUSE, OF THAT _DAMN OTHER_ _ **HUMAN!"**_

"YOU… YOU… I'LL… YOU… I… I. WILL. MAKE. YOU. **PAY!"**

Papyrus got shakily to his feet, his fists clenched.

"HUMAN… I… NO LONGER BELIEVE IN YOU."

"Oh, my. That's a new one."

"HANG IN THERE, FRISK. YOU CAN'T LOAD UNTIL THIS HUMAN IS DEAD? THEN LET ME SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM."

Papyrus' jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. His rage was so intense that it could literally be felt from several yards away. Energy seemed to be emanating from him with unbelievable force. Tears were streaming out of his right eye. And his left was nothing but a black void.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Papyrus screamed a wild, wordless battle cry, and the entire area was engulfed in an explosion.

When the dust cleared, Papyrus became visible once again. Clutched in his hand was a long bone, held like a blunt weapon. And from his left eye, blue flame surged like a miniature inferno, a little piece of hell inside his skull.

"NYEH. HEH. HEH. GOODBYE, HUMAN. WHEN FRISK LOADS, YOU WILL COME BACK, AND NEITHER OF US WILL REMEMBER THIS. BUT UNTIL THAT HAPPENS, I WILL ENJOY CRUSHING YOUR BONES. JUST HOLD ON, FRISK. JUST STAY ALIVE UNTIL I FINISH THEM."

Papyrus, Frisk, and Chara were all filled with DETERMINATION.


	8. Chapter 8: Dreams

"What just happened to _you?"_

"IT DOSEN'T MATTER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, HUMAN. WHAT MATTERS IS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU."

"Ooh, intense. Papyrus, even all enraged and battle-moded, you are still just a weakling."

The bloody and slowly dying Pacifist Frisk smiled at their Genocide counterpart's statement.

"F-funny story, actually… I-I… Un-Undyne might have to dis-disagree with you."

"What?"

"IT DOSEN'T MATTER. SAVE YOUR ENERGY, FRISK. I WILL DESTROY THIS HUMAN AND YOU CAN LOAD. ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU STAY ALIVE UNTIL THAT HAPPENS. NOW. BEWARE THE POWER OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

"What a _joke._ I'll tear you apart."

Papyrus simply readied the bone he held as a weapon. Chara charged, and he sidestepped, dodging a flashing knife strike, before countering with a strike from his bone staff. Chara sliced upward with their knife to attempt to destroy the bone, but failed, and only managed to delay the next strike.

Leaping backwards, Chara realized that Papyrus _was_ rather powerful, and that they needed to be careful. No RESETS, anyway, so things could get dangerous.

Papyrus clenched his fists, and a row of bones appeared behind Chara, so thick that they constituted a wall. He then pulled the fist backward, drawing the bones closer and closer to Chara, physically forcing them closer to him.

Chara attempted to leap to the side to avoid the bones, but was instead forced to a stop in front of a row of jagged bones suddenly sticking out of the ground at a diagonal, forcing them to face Papyrus head-on. That wasn't a problem, of course, as Papyrus was no challenge. But they still liked to fight on their own terms.

"Fine, Pap. You want to force me to fight you? I won't argue.

"DO _NOT_ CALL ME THAT."

"I'll damn well call you whatever I want."

"YOU DO NOT _DESERVE_ TO CALL ME THAT!"

Papyrus took a large step forwards, swinging his bone at Chara at waist level. The fallen child leapt over the attack and attempted to bring a slash down on the skeleton's head, but he dodged himself, simply twisting his head out of the way.

"Impressive. You dodge almost as well as your brother… oh, wait. He didn't do all that well at dodging, did he?"

"IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY OUTSIDE, HUMAN."

Papyrus dodged another slash from Chara, before countering with a heavy whack from his bone, this time actually hitting the human and sending them flying into the bones behind them, cracking both the bones coming out of the ground and those of the human as well.

"THE SUN IS SHINING."

Chara hurled their knife at Papyrus, who sidestepped, before drawing another and leaping at him with a stab. The skeleton floated up into the air to avoid the blow, the blue flame in his eye flaring up even more than before.

"CHILDREN ARE PLAYING."

"That's new…"

Chara grabbed the knife that they had thrown and ran up a tree like a ramp, flipping at Papyrus, who dodged, grabbed their feet, and threw them to the ground.

"ON DAYS LIKE THIS."

Chara leapt to their feet and jumped back at Papyrus, twisting out of the way of his return blow and swinging a slice down his torso.

 **1742**

"KIDS LIKE YOU."

Before even landing on the ground, Chara landed another, even stronger, slice.

 **2319**

"He barely even felt that one… how is he so damn strong!?"

"SHOULD BE BURNING..."

Papyrus landed and dashed at Chara, brandishing his bone like a bo staff, smacking them soundly about the head repeatedly, before lifting them into the air with a strike and bringing them back down into the ground with another. Chara leapt to their feet and raised their knife, but before they had a chance to do anything, Papyrus swung a mighty blow with his bone staff along the human's throat, badly stunning them.

The skeleton leaned in close to the human, looking them straight in the eye. Flames still billowed from one eye, and tears still fell freely from the other.

"IN NYEH, HEH, HELL."

"Oh, goddamn you."

"THE FEELING IS MUTUAL."

Papurus wound up with another baseball-style strike from his weapon. Landing it, he sent Chara straight through the wall of bones he had created earlier.

" **R."**

The Genocide Frisk was getting to their feet as they heard the words, and somehow, the chilled them even deeper than they had coming from Sans. Somehow, when Papyrus delivered the line, it seemed more sincere, somehow. More forceful. When Sans said it, it chilled your bones. When Papyrus did, it chilled your SOUL.

"I'll kill you, you w-worthless sack of bones!"

"YOU CAN ALWAYS TRY."

As Papyrus leapt at his brother's murderer, another man watched, far, far away. This was yet another extremely strange development. These timelines interacting with each other made the actions of each timeline extremely strange. Such things had never happened before in his memory. In fact, he couldn't think of a single timeline, _ever,_ in which Papyrus had shown such power.

Perhaps, he thought, it had something to do with the exact circumstances. Chara had killed Sans _and_ Frisk, and usually, since the two were either united against absolutely no one, or on opposite sides of the conflict, they could never both be killed.

And perhaps it had something to do with the type of enemy Papyrus was fighting. That was another thing that had happened. In all these years, in all the millions of timelines he had observed, never, _never_ had he seen Papyrus say those words. "I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN YOU." The enigma had never considered that it was _possible_ to drive such a mild, caring person to the edge like that.

Again, perhaps he could use that to his advantage.

"HUMAN, YOU ARE FINISHED. YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE. BUT, YOU HAVE FOUGHT WELL, AND YOU ARE EXTREMELY DURABLE. SO I BELIEVE THAT IT IS ABOUT TIME I SHOWED YOU SOMETHING SPECIAL… EXTREMELY SPECIAL. AFTER ALL THIS TIME, HUMAN, I THINK IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU FINALLY SAW MY _SPECIAL ATTACK!"_

Papyrus raised his hand up in the air, and a blue energy seemed to concentrate in it.

"CONFESSION TIME, HUMAN. THAT ANNOYING DOG NEVER STOLE MY SPECIAL ATTACK. THAT WAS JUST AN AVERAGE BONE, JUST LIKE ANY OTHER. I NEVER USED MY SPECIAL ATTACK BECAUSE I _STILL BELIEVED IN YOU._ I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOU."

Papyrus' face clenched into a furious scowl.

"THAT HAS CHANGED. HUMAN, I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU WON'T SEE ANYWHERE ELSE, TRUST ME. HANG ON, FRISK. IT'S ALMOST OVER."

It was then that the Genocide Frisk really realized what the Pacifist Frisk and Chara had known the whole time. Papyrus' refusal to harm them hadn't been an act. It hadn't been a ploy. He hadn't do it to make them feel guilty and show MERCY. It was a genuine act of kindness. Papyrus _really did_ believe in them. And they had never believed in themselves. They realized that they could dodge. They could probably escape. And chances were, when they did, Papyrus would be at his most vulnerable point.

They could win. But, they realized, Chara didn't know that.

Unbeknownst to Papyrus, Genocide Frisk was sparing him.

"THIS ENDS HERE, HUMAN. IT'S OVER."

Papyrus had grown the ball of energy in his hand into about the size of a basketball, and, suddenly, when it had stopped growing, he clenched his fist, crushing it into his palm. He then brought his fingers to his lips… and whistled. At first, Chara couldn't figure out what was happening. But it only took a few moments before the earthquake began. And a few seconds later, they saw it. The gasterblaster that rose from the ground actually looked a lot like Sans', but with a body. It looked kind of like the skeleton of a giant mutant dinosaur, with spikes protruding from all ends, and several illogically placed holes in the bones.

The only difference was the fact that it was a little bigger. 700 feet tall, to be precise. The head was about 100 feet long, and 50 feet wide, with a mouth that could open 150 feet wide, and therefore release a beam of the same size.

"SANS' WERE THE CHILDREN, HUMAN. THIS IS THE QUEEN."

When that beam went off, Chara was already dead inside the body of Genocide Frisk. They had had a heart attack.

Pacifist Frisk smiled as the attack hit. They were being slightly burned, but the Queen was being quite careful with her aiming, and they weren't badly injured by the blast. When the ability came back to them, they could feel it. The DETERMINATION. The ability to SAVE, and to LOAD, and to RESET. The power of a GOD. But they didn't see it that way. They just saw it as the power of a kid named Frisk. And the ability to SAVE, by using a LOAD. The instant the Genocide Frisk was gone, the LOAD had already happened. They stood in a small, open area with Sans. Flowey had just popped into the ground. They were uninjured. Sans was alive. And Papyrus had never had to go through what he had just experienced in their timeline.

"what's wrong, kid?"

"Don't worry about it, Sans… it's nothing."


	9. Chapter 9: Secrets

"Hey, Sans…"

"yeah, kid? what's up?"

"Earlier… I…"

"RESET?"

"Well, no, just a LOAD. But how did you know?"

"i can see it in your eyes, kid. what happened?"

"You…"

"died?"

"Yeah. Papyrus called us and accidentally led us both into a trap. The other version of me killed you, and injured me… pretty bad. I had no choice but to LOAD."

"i sure hope that's what came right to mind, kid."

"Don't worry, Sans. If you die, I'm going to bring you right back, no matter what."

Sans didn't ask _how_ Frisk had managed to RESET if the other human was still alive. Frisk figured that Sans knew what Papyrus could do, and didn't want to talk about it.

"about that, kid… you've gotta remember, if i go down, that isn't necessarily a death sentence for your happy ending. sometimes… you've just got to let it go."

"No way, Sans. It wouldn't be a happy ending without you."

"at least think about it, kid. remember, if you RESET and fail… then it's all gone. not just my life, but everyone's. and you know as well as i do that you could…"

"Turn evil? Be like that _other_ one? Yeah, Sans. I know. Don't worry about talking about it, I understand. But it's like… I tried so hard to make sure everyone made it. If anyone dies, it's not just that person dying, it's like the entire timeline was a waste. I failed the whole time."

"kid. frisk. that's the problem. we both know you wouldn't RESET for froggit. but you _would_ RESET for me. don't tell yourself it's a matter of principle. it's not, and you know it."

"I know, Sans. I know. But I _would_ RESET for you, and that's because you're my friend. I couldn't go on knowing I let you die when I could have saved you. I could never look Papyrus in the eye again."

"yeah, i know. just please. if something goes wrong, LOAD. but if you can't kid, promise me, don't RESET. just don't. i don't like making promises, and i hate asking for them more, so maybe i'm being a hypocrite. but if you RESET… it could all go in the hole."

"I'll… I'll think about it, Sans."

"please do, kid. i don't want to lose everything. but i don't want everyone else to lose everything either. so just… don't RESET, kid."

They continued walking in silence for a while.

"kid, listen. it's confession time."

"What is it, Sans? What's wrong?"

"don't worry. it has nothing… er… _almost_ nothing to do with our little… evil human problem. the main thing is this… i, um… haven't been telling you the whole truth. come with me, kid."

"Where are we going? Sans, slow down?"

"the CORE, kid. i've gotta show you something. c'mon. i know a shortcut."

Sans grabbed Frisk's hands, and they were _running,_ through the woods, through the darkness, through the CORE building, and then they were there, looking down over the CORE. Sans stepped immediately to a nearby control panel and began tapping at it as quickly as he could, typing even quicker than Alphys could, and Frisk knew that Alphys had been at _that_ pursuit for years. Sans slammed his fist down on a large button, but nothing happened.

"Sans, what are you-"

"quiet, kid. i haven't done this in a long time."

Sans reached out, blue flame surging around his hand.

"ok, good, i got it."

Suddenly, a grinding noise was heard.

"alphys and i agreed that it should be more than just tough to get in here. if you aren't one of us, it's impossible. she never even told me what she worked out for how she got in herself. me, it's pretty easy. there's just a lever _inside_ the door, and only somebody with telekinesis like me can get in. simple, right?"

"Um… sure…"

"ok, great, it's working."

Unexpectedly for Frisk, a massive door suddenly opened in the wall behind them, where it seemed like there couldn't possibly be one.

"Wow. I thought that the True Lab was a secret"

"kid, the true lab is a _joke._ hell, alphys left an elevator to it right out in the open. this is something she _really_ wanted to keep hidden. me too, to tell the truth. this is _big,_ kid. i wanted to tell you before, i really did. but… it can be hard to pull old skeletons like this out of the closet."

"I understand. Hey. You just used the phrase "skeletons" in the closet. No wink, no emphasis. What's wrong?"

"i'm not in the mood for jokes right now, frisk."

Sans hurried down the staircase that had suddenly been opened up in front of them, with Frisk breathlessly following. The skeleton finally stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and looked up. Frisk followed his gaze and saw two large machines. One was half-built and round, with an odd protrusion on the front. The other, however, was what really got into their mind.

It was a massive box, with a strange platform in the center of it. Circling the platform were several crescent-shaped objects, and hanging in the middle, over all of it, was a little wire, at the bottom of which was a single tem flake.

…

Wait

"A _tem flake?_ What the heck is a tem flake doing hanging up there."

"it's complicated, kid, but to make a long story short, we spent a _long time_ looking for that tem flake."

"Who's "we," Sans? You and Alphys? Who?"

"me and alphys and gaster. that's who."

Frisk gasped at the name. They had never heard Sans mention it before. In fact, even when somebody else seemed on the verge of mentioning it, he would cut them off. But now he had seemingly casually dropped the name in the middle of everything.

Of course, Frisk knew who W. D. Gaster was. The mysterious scientist who had invented the CORE while working for Asgore and Toriel. One day, he had fallen into it, and lost his life. It was tragic. But up until now, there had never been any hinting that Sans had been around at the time, and certainly none that they had worked together.

"Gaster? The one who fell into the CORE?"

"nobody ever said that he fell into the CORE, kid. they said he fell into his creation."

Sans nodded tellingly at the massive monolith before them.

"that's it, kid. that's what happened to him. the poor old man got strung out between the timelines."

"That's not what you brought me here to hear, is it?"

"of course not. that right there is the SWAP. what it does is travels between timelines. so we needed an anchor, something similar between the timelines. turns out, that exact tem flake exists in countless quadrillions of timelines, making it possible to transport yourself to any timeline in which that flake exists."

"That's weird."

"of course it is. this was gaster we were dealing with. come with me."

Sans stepped up to the platform. Frisk reluctantly followed. There was a flash of light, and when the light faded, they were standing there again. Sans was smiling widely, and Frisk seemed extremely wide-eyed. Their hair was quite a bit longer, and they were actually visibly older.

"Whoah. We're back. It's been so long, I actually didn't expect it to work.

"yep. so, anyway, wanna go to grillby's? it's been way too long."

"Yeah, Sans. Let's go to Grillby's, and then let's visit Papyrus and Undyne and Alphys. And then let's check up on Toriel and Asgore, and let's see how Nabstablook is doing. And let's say howdy to Flowey, and then to Froggit, and to Whimsun, and to Dogamy and Dogaressa. And then lets say hi to everybody else."

"it's great to be back, ain't it?"

 **And thus starts a series of spinoff stories. Most will be one-shots, but I might turn others into multiple-part series. So, long story short, I'm going to have Sans and Frisk head to a ton of Undertale AUs, in which quite a few things might happen. If anyone wants to suggest a specific AU, then feel free to, or suggest a certain circumstance that they might find themselves in. Of course, I will keep expanding End Tale just like I have been, but I wanted to add something new, and this is it. So please, give suggestions or feedback.**


	10. Chapter 10: So Long Ago

Papyrus was surprised by Frisk's sudden hug. The human had seemed to suddenly pop out of the woods nearby him and hurl themselves into him, knocking him over in the process.

"ALLRIGHT, ALLRIGHT, HUMAN, IT IS NICE TO SEE YOU TOO! BUT IT'S ONLY BEEN A FEW HOURS SINCE WE LAST TALKED! BOY, YOU SURE DO SUFFER FROM A LOT OF SEPERATION ANXIETY!"

At Papyrus' claiming that Frisk had seen him only a few hours before, Frisk didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Sans just slowly walked up to his brother, his smile bigger than it had ever been, and his eyes watering. Frisk let go of Papyrus, not before planting a kiss on his forehead, and then leapt backward, rushing off without Sans to find Asgore and Toriel.

Sans just kind of staggered toward Papyrus, in an almost dreamlike state, as if there were no thoughts in his head whatsoever. Papyrus noticed his strange appearance.

"ARE YOU ALLRIGHT, SANS? SANS, WHAT'S WRONG?!"

The shorter skeleton gulped and wiped away a tear.

"nothin's wrong bro. nothing is wrong. nothing. i'm not just allright, pap. i'm better than i've ever been."

Sans suddenly rushed forward at blinding speed, burying his head in Papyrus' chest and wrapping his arms around his back.

"it's so good to see you, bro. it was real bonely without you."

Papyrus hugged Sans back, and lifted him into the air as he replied.

"STILL YOUR SAME OLD SELF. I MAY NOT BE SMART ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT FRISK AND YOU DID, BUT I THINK I'M SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ME IN SOME TIME, AND I KNOW THE AGONY THAT CAN BRING UPON PEOPLE."

"i love you, bro."

"… I LOVE YOU TOO, SANS."

Meanwhile, Frisk had ambushed Asgore with a very surprising hug, and Toriel with one that was more of a pleasant surprise. Toriel didn't quite pick up on the fact that something was wrong with Frisk, but Asgore had only been hugged by the child once before, and that was… wait, when was it? Asgore didn't actually remember a time that that had happened. Strange, it just came naturally to him that that had happened once before. But he couldn't remember a time when it had actually happened. Whatever. He was getting old.

Meanwhile, Frisk was literally prancing about the Underground, and eventually out of it, gripping anyone they saw in a crushing embrace. They were so glad to be back home that they couldn't even see straight.

For the last _several years,_ they had been trapped in an alternate universe, and while they could have hardly picked someone better than Sans to be trapped with them, everything was always so _strange._ No matter what, there was always something _wrong_ with the timelines. Either an alternate version of them had been causing trouble, or their friends had their personalities swapped, or _everyone but Flowey was evil,_ or something of that nature.

But here, everything was… right. Everyone was exactly who they were supposed to be. Papyrus was an over-the-top, constantly optimistic skeleton who couldn't fight to save his life (but could to save his brother's, apparently), Toriel was a loving, caring, motherly goat woman, Asgore was a towering, slightly inept, caring old goat man, Alphys was a nerd and weeaboo who it was impossible not to love, and Undyne was an endearingly angry fish woman who also found it impossible not to love Alphys.

And the relief Frisk felt upon seeing them all once again was overwhelming. After Frisk had greeted literally every single monster in the underground, they began searching for Asriel. Er, Flowey. It didn't matter. Frisk had been to more than one timeline in which Asriel was safe and sound and not Flowey. They just _knew_ that they would be able to SAVE him.

So they went looking. And about an hour later, they found him.

But they didn't really appreciate the circumstances. Peeking into a rather well-hidden area near the Barrier, Frisk caught sight of Asriel playing with his best friend… Chara. The Fallen Child had uprooted Flowey and was holding him in the air.

"H-hey, l-let's talk about this, ok? R-really! We could, we could work together! We could conquer the whole world! P-please, no! It's me, Chara. Don't you remember me?"

Tiny white tears were seeping from Flowey's terrified eyes, and his face morphed to resemble that of the child he once was, Asriel Dreemur. But Chara didn't even hesitate. They had, to be fair, stopped killing Flowey in their own timeline, but that was just because the weed had proven useful on more than one occasion.

"Please! Please, show some MERCY! Chara, don't you remember me? Please! Somebody help! Somebody SAVE me!"

Chara leaned in close to Flowey's face and grinned even wider.

"But nobody came."

Flowey almost died of a heart attack right then and there.

"Sorry, Chara. I came. And I have no intention of letting you kill Asriel."

"F-frisk? Oh, thank god! I-i… _help me._ Please, please, help me."

Frisk smiled themselves and hefted their knife, so useful for cutting vines. Chara raised theirs and laughed out loud at Frisk.

"You honestly think that you can kill me? After what I did to you before that RESET? Papyrus caught me off-guard. I won't let it happen again."

"Does this catch you off guard?"

Frisk dashed forward at Chara, swinging their knife, and Chara parried, expecting Frisk's arm to move in a predicable pattern, like it always did. Chara had years of fighting experience, and Frisk always spared their opponents. Here, Chara had the advantage, even if DETERMINATION made Frisk a bit physically stronger and more durable.

But they were wrong. Frisk, instead of losing their grip on their knife as Chara had expected, skillfully twisted the blade, almost making Chara drop their own weapon. Frisk instantly followed through, bringing the knife down on Chara, who was barely able to block the strike.

"How are you…"

Frisk continued a brutal combo of attacks, each strike making the knife's telltale sound. Chara was surprised by Frisk's ferocity.

"I don't understand…"

Frisk kicked Chara in the chest, sliding them backwards, before charging in with another blow, which Chara narrowly slipped away from.

"Why are you…"

"So good? So strong? So ferocious? Guess."

Chara hurled their entire upper body backwards in what was almost a limbo position, dodging a wild strike from Frisk.

"I want to you _guess_ why I'm winning."

Chara slashed repeatedly, again and again and again, but Frisk easily parried each attack and followed up with one of their own, one that was less easily dodged. Chara, once again, began fearing for their life.

Chara was filled with DETERMINATION.

And Chara began fighting back. Each slash was harder, faster, and more precise than the one that preceded it, and Frisk had more and more trouble blocking them.

For a moment, suddenly, the battle paused. Both had their knives raised at arm level, and both prepared to bring the weapons down on the other. Frisk and Chara both attacked with all of their strength, and the impact of their blades actually cracked nearby stone. The two humans both failed to keep their grip on their weapons, and each knife flew out of their hands. A moment before they scrambled to grab them, they were both sidelined.

Flowey looked positively awestruck. The two followed his blank stare upward, to the top of a nearby boulder. Both of them gasped, as they practically felt the DETERMINATION drip out of their bodies.

"You're not Chara, you little punk. Hold still, Asriel. This'll only take a second. Oh, and Frisk? Nice moves."

They jumped from the top of the boulder.

Twilight was shining through the hole where the Barrier once was.

They were filled with DETERMINATION.


	11. Chapter 11: Three-On-One

Flowey was actually crying. He just couldn't take it all in. Frisk and Chara were fighting, and Frisk had just SAVED him. And Frisk was _beating_ Chara. And now… up there… Chara… somehow… two of them… it didn't make sense.

Frisk, meanwhile, was not quite as emotionally staggered, but was confused nonetheless. There was no mistaking it, the person who had just jumped down from that rock _was_ Chara. There was absolutely no doubt. The had the same face, the same clothes, the same knife, the same expression… wait.

No, it wasn't. That wasn't an evil, insane smile. That wasn't the smile of some Genocidal maniac.

That was the smile of someone who was _happy._ Frisk knew they needed to remember, the "Chara" that they had been fighting moments before wasn't really _Chara._ It was Frisk- it was _them_ possessed by Chara. But during their "adventures" they had met plenty of legitimate Charas, and they knew exactly what they looked like. There was no doubt, this was Chara.

Flowey knew it too.

"C-chara… Is that… you? Please, you…"

There were tears running down his face.

"You have to… it _has_ to be you!"

Chara smiled cockily.

"Don't worry, As! I'll bring down this punk imposter and then we'll see what we can do about that… plantness of yours."

"It… it… it really is…"

"Yup, it's me! Frisk! Get out of my way! This stupid maniac is going _down!"_

Frisk really didn't know what was going on. It was conceivable that _another_ Chara from _another_ timeline had used the SWAP and come here, but why? Had someone _else_ committed Genocide and they came here to reunite with their friends? Had _they_ committed Genocide and this was just an act? Was this somehow… _their_ Chara?

They had no idea. The other Chara, however, didn't care. All they knew was that they had _three_ enemies now, one of which they actually had respect for, in a combat sense at least. So they raised their knife and decided to kill all three of them. They didn't have any idea what was up with this new Chara showing up, and, like I said before, they didn't care. They were going to kill Chara, and then they would kill Frisk, and then they would kill Asriel, and then the comedian and his brother, and then "mom and dad," and then Undyne and Mettaton, and then they'd finish strong with Alphys. Alphys was always a fun one.

Frisk realized that they couldn't keep referring to the enemy they were fighting as Chara, because there was another one of them. And they couldn't call them Frisk, because that would be kind of weird. So they decided to mentally call them Fara. That worked, right? Screw it, I'm rolling with it.

Chara swung their knife and tried to bring it down on Fara, but the latter human dodged, first grabbing and then countering with their own. Chara dodged this thrust and swung their own knife again, but the attack missed when the Genocidal killer dodged backwards. Flowey was still shell-shocked. He simply couldn't get his head around it. This wasn't a possessed Frisk. This wasn't a ghost like Napstablook or a specter like… the scary guy. This was really Chara. The real, in-the-flesh Chara. Their best friend. Flowey sure as hell felt something. It was strange. Not happiness. Not anger. Not sadness. Nothing like that. Ever since becoming Flowey, the only thing he had ever been able to feel was fear, and for a time, he had actually sort-of become addicted to it, killing Papyrus so Sans would kill him, giving him a little injection of fear, if only for a minute. But, eventually, he got used to it and that too became boring.

So he really hadn't felt anything at all in a long, _loooong_ time. He had felt fear when Fara had had him, real, gut-wrenching fear. But now, he felt something different. It was something that wanted to be an emotion, it tried _so hard_ to be an emotion, but stopped just short. But it was the closest that Flowey had come to happiness in almost as long as he could remember.

Wow. This was a big deal for him.

It was also a big deal for Frisk, because they weren't dying. Unlike what they would probably be doing if Chara hadn't showed up. They didn't quite get it, but… in the end… they didn't really care either.

That was one out of three, and they were on the verge of two. They still had no idea what they were going to do about the last one, but they were getting close.

They could SAVE everyone. But that presented a problem. Fara was currently trying to kill everyone, and, if what they had seen in other timelines was any indication, they weren't going to show MERCY, no matter what. And as Chara stalemated Fara in the battle they were currently engaged in, it became increasingly obvious that neither of the humans had any intention of SPARING the other.

But, in just one moment, it didn't matter. Fara feinted, stepped left, and then spun right. Chara overextended themselves, missing a swing and throwing themselves off-balance. Fara raised their knife.

And then dropped it. Upon closer inspection, the fallen human had several small holes shot into their chest, and one directly through their head.

Flowey, once again, had tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Chara. But… you… you made me choose. I'm sorry…"

Flowey heaved a massive breath inward, almost slammed his face into the ground, shot a single green pellet at Chara, a gesture of friendship, and then fled, popping into the ground and disappearing.

"Huh. That was weird. So I guess it's just you and me, eh, Frisk?"

Frisk couldn't help staring at their own body on the ground. No RESETS or LOADS were possible. The other Frisk and Chara were gone. It was over. All that, and it had been ended by a cheap shot by Flowey the flower.

"I… I…"

"Hey, I know it's a pretty big deal. Tough to deal with somebody so much better than you suddenly showing up and doing your job for ya, huh? But you don't have to worry about it. The reaction is natural. So, um, your name's Frisk, right? I didn't screw that up? Ok, cool. I figure you guessed this already, but, um… you can call me Chara. Wanna go find Asriel?"


	12. Chapter 12: Two of Three

Frisk was completely dumbstruck. In less than ten minutes, they had found Flowey and the Genocide Chara, fought them, almost lost to them, discovered that there was at least one other Chara alive, watched the genocide Chara die, and was now talking to the other Chara who was acting like nothing had happened.

"So, Frisk, you want to go and find Asriel? He didn't look too good last time I saw him."

"Um, I, er… how… who… how are you here?"

"Well, I guess I'd better explain that, but could we maybe find Asriel first please? Cause I'd really like to not tell anybody unless he's around."

Frisk didn't know quite what to say. But, underneath their staggering confusion, they were still a kind soul with a kind SOUL, and they recognized Chara's longing to be reunited with Flowey- Asriel.

"sorry, kid, but we're not going anywhere quite yet."

And then Sans was there. No one was actually all that surprised. Chances were, he'd finished up his meeting with Papyrus, both had gotten awkwardly bored around each other, and Sans had gone to look for Frisk, who'd been missing for at least a day at that point.

And he'd found them. And Chara. Kind of awkward.

The fallen human drew their knife and glared in Sans' direction, ready for a fight, but Sans put his palms up in front of his face and shrugged, indicating his unwillingness to fight.

"hey, kid, if you wanna have a bad time, i won't stop you, but i don't want any more human blood on my hands, kay? so maybe don't pull that thing out right away, capisce?"

Chara reluctantly sheathed their blade, still looking at Sans like they would like little more than to do a minimum of one DMG to him. Frisk had their hand on the hilt of their own knife, ready to interfere if a fight seemed sure to break out.

"Ok, comedian, I'm not in the mood for your bullshit. I'm going to find Asriel, and anyone who gets in my way is the one who's going to have a bad time, _capisce?"_

Sans was still smiling, in good humor, and winked with one eye. His right. Chara didn't seem to get the point, as they didn't react at all.

"hey. you didn't, um, seem to notice."

"Notice what?"

"wait… you're telling me… that you _haven't_ seen me do that before?"

"Seen _what,_ Sans? Your annoying wink? Because I've seen that too many times for one lifetime."

It suddenly dawned on Frisk.

"Wait, so, Sans, that means… they've never fought you?"

"i… maybe, i guess?"

"What the hell is going on!?"

"i winked with my right eye. as a general rule, if i wink with my right eye, you're going to be dead within the next few seconds. but you didn't know that, so…"

"Yes, bonehead, I've never fought you. If you _dicks_ are going to force me to tell you where I came from without Asriel here, than fine, I'll _do it._ But don't think I won't be waiting to force you to use that RESET of yours, Frisk."

"Wait… you _want_ me to RESET?"

"Only if it means I get to kill Sans."

"i'm not totally sure we haven't met before, kid. i've had more than one dream, let's say… featuring you prominently."

"Yeah, I get it, some of me have committed more than one Genocide in the past. But _I_ haven't."

"Ok, Sans, listen… I don't know what's up with this Chara, ok? What I do know is that they saved my life and Asriel's, and that they don't want to, er, give away any spoilers unless Asriel is around to hear it."

"fine. no problem, kid, but i'm doing this for you, not them, fyi."

"I could have guessed enough, Sans, but let's just hurry up and find Asriel."

"ok. … … … done."

Both Frisk and Chara spoke at the same time.

"Huh? What?"

Sans lifted one finger, a bit of flame curling off of both it and his left eye as Flowey popped out of the ground a few feet behind the group, his leaves and stem a bit bluer than before.

"found 'im."

"I'm not even going to question how you knew he was there, Chara, can you-"

Frisk didn't have a chance to finish their sentence as Chara shouldered past them and wrapped the floating Flowey in a one-armed hug, before raising their hand for a fist-bump. They awkwardly lowered their fist a second or so later.

"Eh, sorry bro. Tough to get used to you being a flower."

Flowey made a motion approximating a shrug.

"Eh. You should, uh, try it yourself. It's a lot tougher getting used to _being_ one."

"Heh, heh, yeah, I, uh, bet so."

"Yup. Um. So, uh, howdy Chara! How are you, uh… doing?"

"I'm… fine. Uh, how are you?"

"I'm fine, other than, you know… being a flower without emotions or a SOUL. How are you, uh, you know… alive?"

Frisk and Sans were both completely flabbergasted. Chara and Flowey were just standing there, or floating in the case of Flowey, talking as if nothing was odd between them. Sure, it was awkward, but they seemed like nothing at all was up.

And lots of things were up, including Flowey, who was still floating, a fact that both him and Chara seemed to completely ignore.

"Heh. Can you believe these **idiots?** Trying to fight you right after you saved Frisk's life?"

"Yeah, those guys can be pretty dumb. But uh… you… still can't feel anything."

"Chara… I… er, nevermind. No, I can't. I can't feel any emotion, other than fear, so thanks for helping me out with, uh, that other Chara-slash-Frisk that had me."

"No problem, bro, it was the least I could do."

Flowey seemed to be having trouble holding himself together.

"Well, hey… still… thanks, I…"

Flowey failed to hold himself together. Shaking free of Sans' telekinesis, he jumped forward at Chara, whipping out vines and wrapping them around the fallen human in what approximated a hug, burying his tiny flower head in their chest and sobbing out loud.

Chara looked down at Flowey, unsure how to react. It was actually kind of awkward, but eventually, they found enough love in their heart for their brother to hug him back.

"It's ok, Asriel. I'll fix you. I promise."

"You don't need to, Chara. I'm fixed. I'm happy, Chara. I'm happy."

Frisk gasped. Sans raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure he trusted anything that Flowey said, but it wasn't like Flowey to claim he was feeling emotions. In fact, he kind of seemed like the kind of guy who would do the opposite.

Frisk, meanwhile, found it in them to finally ask a coherent question.

"Chara, I'm sorry to interrupt, but… how _are_ you alive?"

Meanwhile, Chara had hugged Asriel a bit tighter. When they heard Frisk's question, they answered.

The curious thing about Chara's answer wasn't really it's wording. It was more it's tone. Rather than the previous arrogant, snide, sarcastic voice that Chara had been using the whole time, this comment's tone was calm, peaceful, and thoughtful.

"Then don't."

"Huh?"

"Please. If you're sorry to interrupt, then don't."

A single tear fell down Chara's face, as Frisk decided to shut up.

From far above, stretched throughout the timelines, a mysterious figure found the time to pay attention to this new development. He was busy, and he didn't have much time to waste, but he still found this curious. Unlike all those present, he saw Flowey absorb some of Fara's broken SOUL. Just enough to make him regain his emotions, but not enough to cause him to return to his true form as Asriel Dreemur.

Curious indeed.

But he was busy. He was busting out of that joint.

Frisk, meanwhile, saw what was going on. That was Chara _and_ Asriel.

"Sans."

"yeah, kid?"

"That's two. Two of three. There's only one more."

"kid… i wouldn't count on the last one."

"I'm not counting anything. Just HOPING."

Sans was silent for a moment.

"good luck, kid."


	13. Chapter 13: New Face, Old Scars

"Asriel, I…"

"Hey, Chara, don't worry about it. Please. I'm ok."

Chara hugged their flowery brother again. Neither Sans nor Frisk could understand how Chara returned to life and why they were so benign, and Frisk didn't care.

Sans did.

"hey, kid, listen, you two got your reunion and everybody's happy. trust me, i don't want any trouble. but kid. chara. _how did you get back."_

"Hehe… that's actually a funny story, Sans… I err…"

Sans suddenly stepped back and gasped, seeing what no one else could. The lines, to him, were so clear on their face. One fell from their right eye to their lip, and the other rose from their left to their forehead. It only flashed for a second, but Sans could see it.

"what did you _do,_ kid?!"

"I…"

Frisk saw the change in Sans' tone and realized that something was wrong.

"Sans, what is it?"

"what. did. you. _do?!"_

Although Chara was loath to cooperate with Sans, the force and urgency in his voice invited quick reaction, and they felt the words slip out as the smile fell from their face.

"I'm sorry. I committed Genocide. With Gaster."

Although Sans had predicted some of this, he was still shocked hearing his fears confirmed. But there was one part that sentence that caught him off-guard.

"g-genocide? what? how?"

True enough, it was obvious that everyone was still alive. Sans had rarely in his life been this confused.

"Well… not the monsters. The humans. Sans… me and Frisk… we're the only ones left. Gaster and I… we had to… we needed the DETERMINATION, Sans."

"and you… y-you… killed _all_ of the humans to get it!?"

"W-what! Chara, I- I wanted to think that you could… I was sure that you could be a _friend!"_

Even Asriel seemed shocked. He had done much worse, or at least just as bad on some of his RESETS, but that felt like just a bad memory at this point, and now… Chara had proved themselves just as bad as anyone had thought they were. Sure they did it to return to life, but…

"Chara…"

"Don't, Asriel. Go ahead, Sans. Judge me. Kill one of the last two surviving humans in the world."

Sans' eye began to burn with a feint orange glow.

"i won't hesit-"

"Sorry, but you aren't one of two!"

Suddenly, down from the hole where the Barrier once was, a flash of light seemed to explode in the face of those present. It was night outside, and without expecting light, even the faintest reflection seemed like a star suddenly exploding.

The flash, as it turned out, had come from a sword.

"You _BASTARDS!_ I'll make you PAY!"

Another human, completely unexpected, had suddenly charged in through the entrance to the Underground and swung his blade at Sans. The skeleton simply bent backwards in a "limbo" position and allowed the blade to pass easily over his head, before thrusting one palm in front of him and another behind him, hurling both Chara and this newcomer into opposite sides of the Underground's cave walls.

"why don't we just slow down real quick. i don't think any of you want to have a bad time, so why don't we take this one at a time."

Sans looked at the newcomer and glared at him, before intentionally ignoring him and being as dismissive as possible. He didn't like Chara, he didn't like Flowey, and he didn't like humans who's first action upon meeting him was trying to take his head off with a rapier.

"ok, chara, listen up. what happened, _exactly."_

"Fine. But it's… a long story."

"Don't IGNORE ME!"

"shut up, kid, i'll get to you next."

Sans actually telekinetically slammed the human's mouth shut to force him to stop talking.

Meanwhile, Frisk looked at the newcomer, completely dumbfounded by his sudden appearance. In fact, as far as they could remember, Frisk had never seen a single human outside of their family, which was pretty much just her mother and aging grandmother. This human, on the other hand, was completely different.

He was male, obviously, a sharp contrast to Frisk's gender-neutral features and voice, and much older than Frisk, at least 20 if they were any judge, which, to tell the truth, they weren't. Frisk wasn't quite sure how old they were, but they figured it was under 13, despite all the time they had spent in the SWAP. They had been _about_ 11 or so when they fell into the Underground, but so much time had passed since then.

But back to the subject at hand. The new human was somewhat tall and lanky, brown-haired, and, if Frisk was any judge, which they weren't, not very attractive. He wore average clothes, a t-shirt, jacket, and tattered jeans. Frisk figured from his unkempt appearance that he'd probably been through some serious shit.

Oh, speaking of that, yeah. Genocide.

"hey, kid, you'd better speak up or i might just have to get a bit harsher with you. what happened.

"Fine, OK, I told you I'd expain it piece by piece. From the beginning, OK?"

"fine. but don't take too long. mr. i-have-a-sword-and-i'm-not-afraid-to-use-it over there is getting impatient."

"Right. OK, so here's what happened. I died. Just like you'd expect. But instead of ceasing to exist, or going to heaven, or whatever most people do, I was still sort-of… there. I mean, I still had my consciousness. I wasn't quite a ghost, but I _was_ floating around. I still had DETERMINATION, but without a SOUL _or_ a body to hold it in, it was useless."

Chara paused to take a ragged breath before continuing.

"So I just kind of looked around. I followed the six humans who fell down here. I kept hoping that _one_ of them would commit Genocide or something, something that would break their SOUL so badly that I would have a place to come back to. But no one did."

Chara shivered.

"And, it was kind of funny, but I felt somebody there with me. I never knew quite who… anyway, eventually, Frisk came. And everybody else was the same, predictable, but Frisk… they were… different. I realized, subconsciously, that I could predict what they were going to do. And I was _right!_ But then… I wasn't. Suddenly, some time after they left the RUINS, my predictions, most of which involved Frisk screwing up, stopped being right. They started doing things I didn't see coming."

Frisk certainly saw what was coming. They literally considered mouthing "spoiler alert" to Sans or the newcomer, but decided it wasn't the time. Sans turned toward them, gave a grim look, and then mouthed "spoiler alert," before winking. Frisk almost facepalmed.

"I realized all of a sudden. I just kind of _knew,_ y'know? Anyway, I realized that Frisk could SAVE and LOAD and RESET. I realized that, somehow, they were coming back to life after they died. I looked into it. It took some doing, but eventually I was able to teach myself binary from watching Alphys and from there I could read her computer files directly. I learned about DETERMINATION. And I _had_ it! But it wasn't working. I couldn't LOAD, I couldn't RESET, and I certainly couldn't come back to life like the…"

Chara glanced around, which was difficult to do while Sans had them in a telekinetic chokehold, but they managed to do so. Looking first Asriel, then Sans, and then Frisk in the eye, they got silent nods. They knew.

"R-right. Like the, um, gooey guys."

"Amalgamates."

Frisk was looking dejected. Those were the ones that they couldn't SAVE. No matter what, even if they RESET, it all happened far too long ago. They didn't like talking about them.

"Yeah, that's what Alphys called them. So, long story short, no matter how much DETERMINATION I had I couldn't come back to life."

"then what happened, kid?"

"Then _he_ showed up. W. D. Gaster. He said he knew how to get out. He said, he was in the same, er, predicament I was in, and he knew how to fix it. He said that all we needed to do was flood ourselves with DETERMINATION, more of it than any one person could ever produce, so…"

"you took it. by killing every human alive."

Sans twitched a bit, shrugging in the newcomer's direction.

"well, most of them."

"Yes. We thought we had them all. After it was all over, we just gathered it all up, like, well… like a pile of flower petals. In the fall. And it was like we were jumping into them. Most of it just kind of fell off, but eventually, we just kept shoving it in until it was concentrated, it got thicker and more solid. It… I guess… it turned into a SOUL."

Chara opened their chest up for all to see, metaphorically of course. Their SOUL appeared melted and distorted. That was because, Frisk figured, it wasn't really a SOUL. Just coagulated DETERMINATION.

"and… gaster got out too."

"Yeah."

"And he has what's pretty much the equivalent of a human SOUL?"

"Uh-huh."

"kid, you'd better hope you can SAVE him like everybody else."

"Why, Sans?"

"because if you can't… well, um… there won't be anybody to SAVE us. oh, yeah, and you, kid, what's up."

" **Y** -"

"no, no, no. let's get this straight. you want to talk. um, _some of us,_ want to hear you. so talk, but if you aren't civilized and quiet about it, i might just have to shut you up for a bit longer."

The human glared in fury and did his best to spit at those arrayed there, Sans, Frisk, Chara, and Asirel.

"Fine. My name is Iram."


	14. Chapter 14: Love Lost

"iram, huh?"

"That's right, monster. I won't go to the lengths of giving my whole story. I'm just going to tell the part that _matters._ The part where I look outside and see every human in sight dropping like flies, dead and SOULless on the ground. The part where a cloud of black gas fills my home, where I'm forced to run and hide. The part where I cower in a little nook for _hours,_ hoping and praying that I'll somehow survive. The part where _you monsters_ ruin _everything._ Get it? EVERYTHING. Now, don't get me wrong. There's no love lost between me and humanity. I'm _edgy._ But the fact is, you took away everything I had left. You _freaks_ were just as bad as everyone said you were. And _you._ Kid. _Chara._ You know everyone thought you were a hero, right? You were a martyr. The first human killed by the monsters since the War. There are _statues of you._ The monsters killed you, huh? Your parents should have spared them the trouble."

Iram struggled against the telekinetic hold that was forcing him into the wall behind him, but nothing happened. He growled at Sans and Chara.

"So, monster. Are you just gonna keep holding me here, or can I stand on my own two feet?"

"first of all, my name is sans. second of all, no. five minutes ago, you were trying to kill all four of us. i don't see any reason why that's changed, so you can stay on the wall. but, uh, this is getting a bit straining, so i'm gonna make it a bit easier on myself."

Sans snapped his fingers, and bones popped out of the wall behind Iram, surrounding both of his arms, his legs, and his torso.

"D-damn you!"

"eh. so… you got anything else to say?"

"Ha! That's a laugh! Did you even _hear_ my entire monologue? What else is there to say!?"

"I heard it Iram."

Chara spoke up. Their eyes watered and they had trouble looking the human in the face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to be this way!"

They began to cry.

"When I was in the VOID, all I cared about was bringing myself back, by any means necessary. I was an empty shell. Whatever people around me did, I learned to do. When I was just watching the monsters, I became compassionate, kind, and I hated humans _so much._ But when Gaster got to me… I unlearned all of that. My hatred took over everything. And humans… It was like killing them was the only thing in the world that would satisfy me. But it didn't… neither did coming back. But... listen… I lied before. Gaster and I weren't perfect. Just like you escaped, others certainly did too. There are still humans out there."

Frisk recoiled in surprise.

"C-Chara! Why didn't you tell us that before?!"

"I just thought… if you didn't know humans existed… you wouldn't go looking for them. I thought that we could just be alone."

"Well, humans DO exist!"

Iram struggled against his restraints, making very little headway.

"No thanks to YOU freaks! Tell me this- why am _I_ locked up and they aren't? Huh?"

"because they haven't tried to _kill us_ yet. i'm getting a sense of déjà vu. haven't we gone over this already? they might be evil, but they aren't actively trying to knife us to death, so they get to stand around."

Flowey popped into the ground and emerged at Iram's feet, stretching upward with his stalk until he was at face level to the human.

"Howdy. I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower. I bet you're wondering how I became a flower."

"I'm _not."_

"Golly, you _are_ edgy."

"The edgiest."

"Well, whatever! Here's how it all went down. Chara fell, and me and my parents picked them up. We took care of them, and we didn't care at all that they were a human. My mom took care of them, my dad protected them, and I just played with them. Chara was my _best friend._ We practically grew up together. We were inseparable! But then… they got sick. Nothing we had could heal them. And as hard as we tried… they weren't going to make it. Chara had only one wish. Just one. Before they died, they wanted to see the golden flowers in the middle of their village on the Surface one more time. But they couldn't. We had no way to get up top."

"Thank the bloody _gods."_

"SHUT UP! Ugh. You _idiot._ You really don't get it, do you? We're not the monsters here. _You are._ Chara _died_ that night. No one could do anything about it. And after it happened, I was crushed. I was right there by their side when they stopped breathing… damn it! I can't even tell the story. Chara! Do you remember any of this?"

"N-no. I don't. I was out cold… and then I was dead. It was at least a good couple of days after I died that I regained my consciousness."

"Alright… then this will be your first time hearing the story too. He he he. This is a really good story. I'm sure Iram will _love_ how it ends."

"Only if it ends in all of you as piles of dust!"

"I took their SOUL. I absorbed it. Mom and Dad tried to stop me. They couldn't. It all happened too quick. When I took the SOUL, I transformed, into a being of unimaginable power. Well, pretty much unimaginable. I've… seen better, to tell the truth. At the time, it was unimaginable."

Flowey would have facepalmed, had he had a palm.

"EITHER WAY. I absorbed the SOUL and used it and mine to go to the Surface. Up there, I carried Chara's body into their old village. I was about to lay their body down on the flowers, but… the humans… they wouldn't let me. They attacked me. Again and again. Swords. Spears. Bows. Knives. But I wouldn't fight back! It was a memorial, not a battlefield! I wasn't going to sully Chara's name by killing any humans…"

Flowey's voice trailed off as he looked over at Chara awkwardly.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Not gonna kill any humans, right? Exactly what Chara would refuse to do, right? You're all a bunch of killers. You _disgust_ me."

Frisk and Chara were trembling. Chara shook with crushing regret. Frisk shook with overwhelming rage. They both struggled to hold their emotions in.

"They killed me. I was wounded so badly that no magic or medicine could heal me. They _killed me,_ because I was trying to take care of Chara's last dying wish."

"You deserved it. Chara deserved it. But hey, you should have killed the humans. _They_ deserved _that,_ too."

"god, you're edgy!"

"Yeah, I always wondered why I need this sword. I mean, I'm edgy enough to cut from across the room, so a sword seems like overkill."

"yup."

"Yep."

"uh-huh."

"NO! I still hate _all of you!_ SKELETON! You're a monster who hasn't given me anything but shit since I got here! Kid! You're some self-satisfied asshole, I can tell it! On top of that, you're a bloody _human._ Chara! You worthless scum. You tried to kill me and you killed our entire race to boot. And _you._ You little prick. _Flowey._ You've been giving me this self-righteous speech about how we humans were monsters. Well, you don't need to tell _me_ that. Trust me. I know. There's a _reason_ I wasn't with the rest of 'my village' during the massacre."


End file.
